AMERICAN ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 3 February 1925, Page 2

AMERICAN ITEMS

UfflUUAlWn NAVAL .SECRETARY ON WAR. WASHINGTON, February 2. Senator IN ilbur, Secrctarx ol the Navy, has issued a statement regarding tlie ridiculous .stories appearing in t.in- | ress. magazines and books, Iron, time to time, predicting horrors ol the next great war. Senator Wilbur says that writers who seek to terrorise the peoples of the world regarding the awful calamities of the next war overlook one of the fundamental principles of war, namely, one must have defence,

ami that method of defence should be commensurate with offense. Thus, ii poison gas can he used by one side, it can lie used by the other. If disease germs are used by one side, they can he employed by the other, and the nation, moreover, using the disease germs cannot coniine the elfects ol the disease to one side of the lighting line. Senator WBUir stresnes t/he .negotiations of

treaties, prohibiting the use of gas and says: "Moreover, it is impossible to transport or apply .sufficient poison gas. or other chemical, or biological products, to poison populations of whole cities or countries, as writers (some ol them scientists) predict. The idea is ridiculous, and should be relegated to the field of bedtime stories. My own judgment is that the next war will he like most wars in history sporadic and local. involving comparatively lew | coplc. and will be quickly over. The elm lives are that the judgment of mankind will opt osc any war lor the whole purpose of extermination or annihilation oi' nations or peoples. - ’